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Monday, June 28, 2010

8 Weeks - 2 Months - BabyWise??

My "little" Nate is 2 MOnths!! Amazing that we'll probably be talking about him in terms of MONTHS now instead of weeks!

The time has seemed to "fly" by!! While I know we had some "rough" days, they have been forgotten and now we are trying to savor these sweet baby days that are quickly fleeting!

I haven't talked much about my baby-parenting style.... there's all sorts of stuff out there... attachment parenting, BabyWise, etc! Well I haven't talked much b/c I don't really fit into a certain "model" I kinda just take ideas and use what works for us.

When we had little Anna, I was soo determined to be a mom with it "all together". When a seasoned mom suggest I read through BabyWise, I did. And when little Anna came home and was a few weeks old we started putting the BabyWise model into practice!

I was a stressed wreck. My babe was constantly off her 3 hour schedule. I didn't enjoy the newborn days. She screamed during nursing times. We let her cry (scream her head off) for almost an hour to "train" her how to fall asleep on her own when we was less than 2 months old. It was terrible.

My sweet friend saw the stress and suggested I take some of the ideas from BabyWise and ditch the rest that was stressing me out. So we did!

The things I have liked about BabyWise is the sleep-eat-play routine and the goal of having them learn to sleep soundly. So with Anna, Chris and Lydia that's what we focused on. And they were and are very sound, good little sleepers!!

With the older three I also kept a log of when they ate, about how long they ate, what I had eaten and some of their fussy behavior. I did this partially to keep a record to make sure I was feeding them enough:) And partially to figure out the foods that were making them fussy or spitting up a lot.

I'm a little more laid back with NATE not keeping track of everything, not looking at the clock constantly, etc!!

I've started to get Nate on the sleep-eat-play routine these last 2 or 3 weeks just because he's been in such a fussy spell. And it seemed like he's been too tired to nurse well sometimes. Or really hyper so he has a hard time falling asleep!

So this week it started to fall into place and make sense (for Nate).

I have found that he's usually on a 2-hour -ish schedule during the day:

He'll wake and immediately want to nurse. We'll nurse, change a diaper and burp. Then he'll have a 20 -30 minute window to "play". The goal is to get him into one spot that he can stay for a NAP.

When I put him down happy, content, not-even looking sleepy, he'll unwind and look round then fall asleep with NO help and NO paci.

When I miss the "content time", he fusses for a bit or plays the "spit out the paci I want" game before settling down with our help.

If I really miss the time - it's ROUGH. He'll want to nurse earlier than the 2 hours, but not nurse completely and fuss through the feeding. He wants to be held with the paci the whole time until we finally coax (or bounce) him to sleep.

The funny thing is that when we're away from the house - at the store, library, park,etc- he shuts down and sleeps. He'll miss his "expected" feedings and be super fussy as we work him back into "his" routine when we get home.

These realizations have made for an "easier" week with Nate. I've actually been hands-free, not wearing baby to get some housework and homeschooling done this week.... nice to have clean toilets again and be finished a couple of chapters of history:)

And honestly, with Nate being a little more content, the days are a little more enjoyable instead of "draining". Not to say that we've got it all figured out...

if I remember ANYTHING about infants it's that their routine changes constantly:) But at least we've figured out that Nate likes sleep, sleeps often and will easily fall asleep on his own when put down BEFORE he is fussy.

Other changes:

Baby acne continues to clear up:)

Smiling at the kids more and more

Likes to watch TV while Anna holds him "upright"

Seems like his head/neck has more control - he's holding upright more often and for longer periods

Really likes to he held so he can look around, unless he's sleepy

Smiling at toys

Doesn't like it when Mommy eats baked beans :(

Sleeping in two 4-5 hour blocks at night - might be why he's eating every 2 hours during the day - I'll take it:)

Making more cooo-ing type noises and stares at us like he's trying to talk:)

9 comments:

Sounds like you are getting along well. I like to say I use the Babywise method w/ flexibility. hahaha I know those two don't really go together. Carissa is on a 3 hour schedule and we too like the nurse, play, nap schedule. I love all the sweet pictures!

We are on a very flexible Babywise type schedule too :) Basically we just stick to the sleep, eat, play thing. I was doing good with just putting Emery down to sleep, but then we spent a few weekends with my in laws, which totally messed her up. I now have to rock her to sleep all the time. Not good! I'll wait a while before I try to get her to sleep on her own though. I'm just way too exhausted to deal with it right now. When I do, I'm going to stick more with the No Cry Sleep Solution than Babywise.

I did the exact same thing as far as the picking and choosing from Babywise. Some of it was just too much but we did the sleep-eat-play schedule and Harrison was sleeping through the night by nine weeks! Baby Nate is looking more and more grown up with each post! I love the picture of Anna holding him up to watch tv! She is a good big sister!

We started out with BW, too. . . and gradually did less and less of it with each child. I liked Eat/Wake/Sleep. . . until it wasn't the right thing for my baby, and we did eat/wake/eat/sleep. And then. . . *L* Ditched it completely by baby #4! In all honesty, I look back and wish we hadn't even started with it with #1...

A friend recommended BW to me before I had our first, and I'm so glad she did. It gave me some idea of what to expect, and really helped me maintain my sanity. That's kind of important for new moms. ;)

With that said, I, like the others, use BW with flexibility...but the funny thing to me is that, as I reread BW in preparation for either our 3rd or 4th baby (they kind of run together!) :), I saw how much flexibility IS built into the BW system. The book says it clearly: if your baby is hungry, feed him. Do not watch the clock and wait until the "right" time. If your baby is tired, put him down for a nap, even if it hasn't been the "right" amount of time. If you're away from home or around other people, change your routine to fit the needs of that situation. Etc. So I think even the classic BW model has more flexibility in it than some people give it credit for.

Regardless, I definitely think every family needs to find what works for them, and then confidently walk forward in that. As long as the needs of ALL the members of the family are being met, that's wonderful! But I've seen situations where the mother was adapting herself so fully to her child that the husband was being completely neglected. I think BW principles can help protect against that.

The Crew

We are a young family with 4 little sweet blessings!! Together we are learning to love the Lord, each other, our extended family, friends and our neighbors!

Anna is 10 and is the best big sister around!! She works hard in home school enjoying math, science and history! During play she likes being Lydia and Chris' teacher as well as practicing the piano, riding her bike, and

Christopher is 8 and is the definition of "all boy"... dinosaurs, dirt, tools and weapons! He loves math and retains details from stories and history amazingly well. We love his drawings and stories,his fort building skills and his compassionate heart. Chris blogs about his drawings.

Lydia is feisty and mature at 7!! She's a princess tomboy... One minute she's sword fighting with her brother, the next minute she is making bracelets with her sister. Lydia loves reading! Her servant's heart and her contagious smile make her a joy! Lydia blogs about the pets at our house.

Nate is our busy 4 yr old!! He loves his siblings and tries to keep up with them!! He provides the entertainment and a lot of the distractions in our days. It's an exciting time watching him learn new things every moment. We all adore his funny statements and crazy antics!